How to Reach Your Summer Fitness Goals by Starting Right Now

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>>>Bikini bodies are made in the winter.<<<

My sister says this all the time. Have you ever heard that gem of wisdom? If you have, that’s because it’s true! And if your summer fitness goals are based on getting to a certain weight or building mass in a muscle group, starting in the winter is absolutely the time to start!

The thing is, though, there are a few caveats with the fitness goals thing, obviously, since every single body is so different. But also because every single one of those bodies is starting from such a different point, and wants to be ending at such different points in their fitness goals.

See, usually people already have some sort of fitness ‘goal’ already set in their mind. Ever notice how many people say they’re on a diet, or they’re not eating dairy right now, or have to hit their 10K steps a day? Even if it’s not a ‘carved in stone’ goal, many, many people have a loose fitness goal set in their brain. So to start off with, we need to ask the question:

Am I resetting my fitness goals,

or creating new ones?

1.RESETTING FITNESS GOALS

In resetting fitness goals, we really have to ask ourselves if the end-goal is the same, first and foremost. Do you still want to achieve the same thing, but need a new strategy? Or do you need to totally reassess the end-goal?

I’ve found that even if you’ve already used SMART goals for setting your fitness goals in the first place, doing an evaluation to reset and get realigned is always more effective by adding the “ER” onto the end of SMART. SMARTER goals give you the ‘evaluation’ and ‘readjustment’ needed to keep you on track even when things don’t go as planned.

This is the time to do some soul-searching. And maybe even take a visit to the doc. You’d be surprised at how many fitness goals come about after an annual visit. Us busy Mamas tend to end up with high blood pressure because of the crazy pressure we have on us every day. We also tend to eat on the go a lot for that same reason. We have no time. The extra added sugars and high amounts of sodium contribute to high blood pressure as well as Type 2 Diabetes, or the precursor: Metabolic Syndrome.

If these situations are the case for you, obviously you need a dietary change as well. But another HUGE help in that matter would be to add walking, HIIT workouts, a few days of strength training, and some yoga or meditation. Trust me, all these things will make you feel a thousand percent better!

If you feel like you need to simply reset the goals you already made, think about what threw you off track in the first place. Those things mentioned above? A family event? Just simply too much on your plate? Listen, we are the Managers of our households. Very little gets done without us making it happen. You owe it to your family and yourself to make sure you are in good health. If the manager isn’t running very well, neither is anything else.

Figure out what went wrong the first time around, and do things differently. I’ve got a great post on getting back on track with your goals. I even have a workbook for you to work through getting back on track with those fitness goals.

So sit down and work through what your motive is in setting or resetting your fitness goals. Then work through exactly how to get there.

2.CREATING NEW FITNESS GOALS

If you’re starting from scratch, you have a lot to think about. First you have to figure out what the end goal actually is. Weight loss? Building a certain muscle group? Participating in a competition or a 5K? Creating new fitness goals should always start with a very specific outcome that you want. Then you can build your plan of action around it.

An awesome way to map out your fitness goals is to use the SMART Goal Setting Method.

SMART Goals allow you to get very specific, create a time-frame for your fitness goals, and also figure out if those goals are attainable within those parameters that you set. If you’ve never used the SMART Goals method before, go HERE to read about it, and snag a free workbook that will walk you through each step in creating a realistic plan of action for yourself.

The basics of SMART Goals is that you start out with a very specific statement of intent. Not just, ‘I want to run a marathon.’ Go deeper: ‘I want to run a 5K.’

Then make it measurable. ‘I want to run a 5K with no stopping.’ In this way you can add in the benchmarks you need: 1K straight in 3 weeks, 2K straight in 5 weeks, etc. Give yourself a way to measure your progress, even if it’s just a daily thing you want to hit. I use the Fitbit Charge 2 that tracks so much stuff for me! So that way I know if I’ve hit my daily step goal, but it also tells me how many flights of stairs I’ve done plus it syncs with the app on my phone and can track my walking or jogging paths by GPS. Seriously–tons of info from this cool device (not to mention it syncs with a million other apps!)

Make sure it’s attainable. Depending on your fitness level, and injuries you may or may not have, and any other health issues could keep you from realistically attaining that goal. Make sure you’re not not setting yourself up for failure from the start!

Make sure your goal is relevant. Is this goal in alignment with your overall life goals? Do you already have some fitness resolutions or fitness goals you’ve set for yourself? If you’re running a 5K just to go off the rails once you’ve completed it, think about the time and energy spent on this one goal, and if it’s worth it. Would your time be better spent working on other goals? Or is this really a coordination of the other goals you already have? Make it relevant and meaningful.

Additionally, make sure it’s time-bound. If the 5K is on March 15th, either give that deadline, or maybe even a week before that. Give yourself some padding. You never know when a cold is going to pop up, or even a deadline at work that pushes you away from hitting that goal. Life happens. Count on it, and plan for it.

And if you want to go the extra mile to make sure those goals are REALLY going to happen, check out SMARTER Goals.

The E+R ensure that you’re following up on your fitness goals to see what’s worked, and what hasn’t, to tweak your efforts for the best results. Check out a post HERE about that. You can snag a free workbook for the E + R there, too.

So how have your fitness resolutions + fitness goal setting been going so far? Did this clarify some things for you?

If you’d like a free printable fitness tracker, just click the image below!